Wow.
I think the Pitt Athletic Department has every right to come into their offices tomorrow feeling really good.
With Heinz Field unavailable while new grass is being grown, Wannstedt moved Pittsburgh’s scrimmage to suburban Gateway High School and was greeted by an overflow crowd of 8,007. It was a bigger turnout than those during Walt Harris’ eight seasons as coach, when the 2001 spring game was held sans crowd at the school’s practice complex.
“We had a lot more fans, obviously, than we had room,” said Wannstedt, the former Bears and Dolphins coach who is still adjusting to his first college head coaching job. “It’s a nice problem to have when you don’t have enough room.”
Some fans couldn’t get close enough to the stadium to park and went home, while others braved a miles-long traffic jam to arrive nearly an hour after the scrimmage started.
Sure this wasn’t a Steelers’ training camp workout and not a Pitt scrimmage?
Sure, Nebraska had some 60,000+ last year, and Florida packed in some 50,000+ this year, but for Pitt this was huge. I think it’s safe to say, that but for the lack of space and traffic problems it would have broken 10,000 for a spring practice. A scrimmage in the days leading up, was being severely downplayed as far as action.
There is an energy, buzz, heavy interest that I have severely underestimated about the team and Wannstedt taking over.
I don’t think I am the only one a little surprised by the level of interest.
As for the on-the-field action of the scrimmage, Coach Wannstedt was happy. Stats, for what they are worth, are here (PDF). The offensive line looked really good. The moves and competition seem to be working. The issue for the o-line is the lack of depth. The drop-off after the starters is the concern. Injuries will be a major thing to watch.
While the scrimmage may have started off with a flea-flicker, the star on offense was RB Rashad Jennings. Kirkley and Murphy both sat out the scrimmage with minor injuries. Jennings appears to be passing Brandon Mason on the depth chart. The starter job will still be up in the air come training camp because of the other freshmen RBs, including Conredge Collins. Still, it’s nice to have some hope for the running game right now.
